Studio recording methods for guitar band?

Slash'N'burn

We are planning to go to a small recording studio for a weekend to record one song as a 5 piece band. It will be the type of setup where the owner does the recording/mixing/mastering all himself.

I've never done this before, what are the usual methods/process for recording the individual instruments? 
Would drums be done first, then used as a backing track to record guitars against? 
Or is playing to a click track expected now?
Is recording all the instruments/vocals live (but isolated) ever done these days, or is that the preserve of larger studios? 

I'd really like to record guitar against the drum track, as it's the drums I listen to when playing live for timing/groove - I just have no idea what the norm is. 
Any advice at all on recording studios would be gratefully received - cheers!

Stuckfast

You're arguably looking at this the wrong way round. You are the paying client. The engineer is providing a service. He or she should be doing it the way you want! So if you'd prefer to track everything live, it's up to them to make that possible. If they can't do it the way you want to do it, and they can't provide a good reason why not*, you should take your custom somewhere else. Same deal as regards click track, headphone monitoring and so on.

If you're asking because you don't really know how you want to do it, then depending on the style of music, I'd suggest attempting to lay down the basic tracks live but with the amps reasonably isolated from the drum kit. That way you can keep the live guitar and bass takes if they're good or easily replace them if not. 

At any rate I'd suggest talking to the engineer beforehand to establish what everyone's expectations are.

* There may well be good reasons. For instance if you want to make modern, ultra-technical metal you're not going to get that sound from a live recording. If so the engineer should be able to explain why.

octatonic

Yep ^^^.

Decide what works best for your band and then inform the engineer.
If they argue about it then ask why.

You don't have to play to a click- it makes editing easier but if the drummer can't groove over the click then it is pointless.

Be results driven.

steamabacus

A lot depends on how small the studio is and exactly what facilities they have. I've helped engineer friends who got a perfectly good recording (more old school than modern hyper-produced sounds) in a ghetto studio in a converted bedroom (downstairs though).

Based on that, this is what I would expect to do with a small setup and a band who are not too experienced in a studio situation.

First of all, yes you'd all play together if that's what you need but initial recordings would concentrate on getting a good drum take down. In a small studio, the easiest way to stop everything  else bleeding into the drum mikes is to have the bass, guitar (and keys if any) recorded direct to the desk. Vocalist would be out in a separate control room if possible.

So you'd need some means of getting a good (or at least 'useable') guitar sound direct to desk. Bass and keys are easy to DI. Also you'd need enough pairs of headphones for everybody and control over the monitor mix (individual monitor mixes is nice but not essential).

This would then allow the band to play together in the room but the only sound being recorded on the mics is the drums. Once you have a good drum take you can decide what to do with the other instruments. As said before, bass and keys are usually recorded direct anyway so, if the performances are good, you can keep these 'guide takes' in the final recording. If there are any playing mistakes you can re-record or punch-in sections as needed.

With the guitar, you can get perfectly good direct sounds from modern modelling gear . If you have anything like that, that you're confortable using, you could do everything direct, re-recording whatever needs doing. If you're an old-school guitar amp guy then you'd re-record your guitar track(s) along to the rhythm tracks (and any guide tracks you want - you could have your guide guitar track in your monitor mix if it helps). You could even keep the direct 'guide' guitar track as a second guitar track in the final mix if that gets the sound you're after (doubling parts is very common to beef up the sound).

So you can definitely all play together as a band when recording. Make sure you bring whatever direct recording solutions and headphones you might need - if it's a small studio there may be limited equipment.

Hope that helps somewhat.

Stuckfast

^

If you need to go through all these contortions just in order to lay down a guitar and bass part alongside the live drums, you're in the wrong studio or working with the wrong engineer.

Remember, it's you that is paying. It really, really isn't too much to ask that you should be able to play live guitars and bass through your amps while the drums are being tracked. Most studios have isolation booths for exactly this reason. If the one you've picked doesn't, it won't be hard to find one that does.

Danny1969

Record the band live with a scratch vocal to get a good backing track. Once you have that record the vocals in the booth and any overdubs. 
Main thing is to get very well rehearsed before you get into the studio. 

Stratavarious

It is down to how you play best… you can go the multitrack route but if you’ve not done it a lot or worked with click before you could burn through studio time and not enjoy it.

+1 go well rehearsed, get a scratch vocal and redo fixes or final vocals, solos and BVs.  The place should have at least one place to isolate the singer or a loud amp if not using modellers.

Can add solos and vocals after if the rhythm section is down good.   Doubling solos is a great trick to try if you have them down.

I’m in the studio all day tomorrow.  We will play live with IEMs & some isolation around drums and amps - all closed mic’d and vocals.. DI feed from bass to keep it clean.   There is some bleed but it sounds natural to us,  decent for promo level.   I’ll overdub my BVs if off.

Of course it ultimately all depends on the style.. is it classic guitar band stuff or you got electronics?

AntonHunter

If you can do your own demos before you get there, even just phone recording in a practice room, it'll help loads to highlight which bits of the tune need work before going into the studio. 

digitalscream

When going to a studio, my bands always recorded a scratch track with guitar and bass, to a click. That means that when you get to the studio, the engineer can start with the drums and the drummer has something to work from. From a purely practical perspective, that usually works best - drums take the longest to set up, so the engineer and the drummer can get on that without the rest of you needing to be there twiddling your thumbs.

Once the drums are done, you can all play from that instead - so you're actually playing to an instrument rather than a click.

Danny1969

I forgot I wrote this but this was the prep guide when I was running 2020studios 

http://www.2020studios.co.uk/prep.htm

It goes into some detail about the different ways you can record as well as notes on preparing intruments

Slash'N'burn

Thanks for all the advice. 
Some of the other band members have recorded a few tracks in this band but everything so far seems to be a bit disorganised, so I wanted to get some ideas before I talk with them about how they usually go about it. 
We are a pretty simple setup of lead singer playing rhythm(who might not play on the recordings), bass player with backing vocals, me on lead guitar, drummer and possibly someone on keyboards. 
I use valve amps so would want to be mic'd up, but the bassist generally seems happy with DI. 

I really like the idea of creating scratch tracks to play along to, and recording live with some isolation,  I think our live sound is pretty good and would want to capture some of that in the recordings.

Stuckfast

@Danny1969 's guide is really good, you won't go too far wrong if you follow his advice. The main thing is to enjoy yourselves! What studio are you using, out of interest?

Slash'N'burn

Yes its a really great guide.
We are Manchester based, in the past the band have used Mad Fox studios and Redbridge studios. 

mike257

There's a few people saying you should tell the engineer how you want to do it but, particularly if the studio environment is new to you, I'd be inclined to disagree.

You're presumably going to work with a particular engineer/studio because you think they do a good job based on their portfolio and reputation. That means their should be a degree of trust. It also sounds like this is a new experience for you, so it's unlikely you have a firm idea of exactly what approach will work for you until you've tried it!

The best thing is to have a conversation amongst yourselves as a band to get together any thoughts, ideas, or concerns, then have a conversation with the engineer, and get their input on the best way to go about it based on your needs and experience, the end result you're going for, and their understanding of how to get the best out of that specific studio environment. Absolutely try and do things in a way that you think is comfortable for you, but you are also hiring a professional to take you through that process so listen to them rather than insisting. They know their studio and which approaches will likely yield the best results. 

Danny's guide linked above is a brilliant set of pointers if you're not experienced being in the studio. I'd let everyone have a read of that! The points about being prepared, knowing your parts inside out and having your equipment in good shape are particularly critical to how good the end result will be!